Combustion gas turbine



i 1948' c. F. ROCHEVILLE 2,439,695

COMBUSTION GAS TURBINE Filed March 21, 1944 Invenior l2 3/ CHARLES E ROCHEV/LLE 2 139% Attorney Patented Apr. 13, 1948 a v A 2,439,695

This invention relates to an internal combus- 5 Claims. (01. sci-41) tion engine and particularly refers to an arrangement of blades or vanes for a rotary type of prime mover in which a combustible mixture is ignited in a rotating combustion chamber and expands V therefrom to impinge against a plurality of blades or vanes, the reaction of which drives forwardly the combustion chamber and its supporting shaft to generate power. The apparatus disclosed and claimed herein is an improvement over that of my Patent No. 2,222,183, issued November 19, 1940.

The expansion means of the apparatus of my previous patent were illustrated as being inclined slots or recesses which lined the greater part of the stator within which moved the rotor carrying the combustion chamber, the latter being provided with a trailing member which was correspondingly slotted to cooperate with the stator to provide a tortuous passage for the escape of the heated gas from the outlet of the combustion chamber.

This invention comprehends broadly an improved arrangement of blades or vanes which are similarly located in the stator and following the combustion chamber of the rotor of a turbine of the type of my previous patent. Reference is hereby made to that patent for the general features of construction, and this disclosure will be primarily concerned with the specific arrangement of the combustionchamber with its vanes or blades and the blading arrangement for the stator, the latter being shaped as a toroid to form an annular chamber through which the combustion chamber and its blades are adapted to rotate.

It is an object of this invention to provide a combustion gas turbine blading arrangement which will give a higher eiliciency than that heretofore attained; using airfoil blade sections and a plurality of stages through which the expanding gases may pass to give a reaction which will drive the rotor to produce power.

Another object is to provide an improved blading arrangement for the rotor and stator of a turbine of this type in which the severalrows of vanes are radially mounted within a toroidal chamber, the fiow of gas' being divided to balance the end thrust.

Another object is to provide animproved vane arrangement for a combustion turbine of this type in which the vanes may be separately fabricated and installed by sliding them lengthwise into grooves which extend circumi'erentially around at least a portion of the stator and rotor.

These and other objects and advantages will i become further apparent from the following description and from the accompanying drawing which forms a part of this specification and illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention.

In the drawing.

Figure l is a vertical sectionalview at right angles to the shaft of the combustion turbine and in the plane oi rotation of the rotor.

Figure 2 is a part sectional vertical view on line 11-11 of Figure 1 and illustrates an end view of the vanes and part of the combustion chamber arrangement to an enlarged scale.

Referring to the drawing, reference numeral I 0 designates generally a circular casing which for convenience may be split circumierentially into two parts and Joined by cooperating flanges I l secured by screws l2. Desirably. but not necessarily. the outer part of easing I0 is provided with an outer jacket l3 to form a space M through which water or other cooling fluid may be circulated. The inner wall iii of casing 10 forming the toroidal chamber is desirably recessed with longitudinally extending grooves it to receive the stator gas reversing blades H and stator gas splitting blades l8. the latter bridging the plane of separation between the two halves of easing l0 and are those against which the gases from the combustion chamber are first directed.

Blades l1 and I8 extend circumferentially in spaced rows around that part of the periphery of the annular or toroidal chamber it formed by inner wall I! in a clockwise direction between points 20 and 2| (Figure l), which constitutes the effective sector angle through which the reaction of gases from the rotor tends to drive the latter. That portion or sector of the annular chamber l9 which extends in a clockwise direction between point 2| and point 20, constituting the remainder of the 360 degrees of chamber 19, is provided with a solid blank sealing member 22 which has the same outer configuration as'the stator gas splitting blade l8, and serves to seal oi? the outlet from the combustion chamber, to be described below, during the intake and compression periods while said combustion chamber is receiving its combustible mixture from an inner port as described in my Patent No. 2,222,183. Stator gas reversing blades l1 similarly extend clockwise from points 20 and 2| but there is no filler or sealing member continuing the circle between the two latter point-s, this space serving to receive the exhaust gases which have already passed through the expansion vanes and conducts such bases to ports 23 through wall '5 and to exhaust pipe 24.

Rotor 25, in this "example, consists of a ring 26 which is suitably mounted for rotation in casing In by means not shown but which could be i passage between arranged as in my Patent No. 2,222,183, said rin carryin at one point on its periphery a hollow combustion chamber 21 provided with an intake port 28 to receive a. combustible charge throughout a predetermined part of its travel through annular chamber is from suitable charge regulating means inside of ring 26. The ignition of the combustible charge within chamber 21 may be carried out either through the heat of compression of the combustible charge, as in 2. Diesel operation, or may be carried out by means of a spark plug or other suitable igniter which is adapted to be placed in communication with port 29 at the proper point in the revolution of chamber 2i throughout its path. Chamber 21 is provided with one or more discharge ports 29 on the outer face or periphery of chamber 21, preferably in the plane of separation between the two halves of casing it. Thus the gases emerging from ports 29 will, dur that period of the rotation of the rotor 25 when these ports are in the sector which extends clockwise between points 2i and 29, impinge against the working faces of the stator gas splitting blades '58, and there will be divided to how as indicated by the arrows of Figure 2 to pass transversely around the annular the body of the combustion chamber 2? and its trailing portion 30 to impinge against the blades occupying that passage. As shown in Figures 1 and 2, each of blades l8 has a raised ridge or fin $2 on its forw'ard face, said fin sloping gradually away from the center to form what may be termed a dihedral face on blade it, so that the gases passing backwardly from ports Eli will be divided and directed into the paths just mentioned.

The trailing member 2% carried by combustion chamber ii is provided, in the example shown, with four rows of blades or vanes which may conveniently be described in two groups, Nos. 32 being the first stage and Nos. 33 constituting the second stage. These vanes are received in grooves 3d and tb-respectively which are suitably recessed into the trailing member 32. Desirably blades 32 are provided with a thick leading edge 36 and a thin trailing edge iii, the intermediate portion of the blade being of any desired concave-convex configuration similar to those used for high er"- ficiency airfoil sections.

Refering now to the first stage blades 32, the gases leaving the sides of splitter blades it will impinge against the thick leading edges 36 of blades 32 in the same manner as air impinges against the leading edge of an airfoil section in an airplane, the concavity and convexity of blades 32 being arranged to urge those vanes and the rotor 25 supporting them in counterclockwise direction within passage 69. The gases leaving the thin trailing edges 31 of first stage rotating vanes 32 will impinge upon the thick leading edges 38 of the stator stationary reversing blades I! to straighten the flow of gas. Reversing blades l'l are similarly of airfoil section but with the concavity and convexity reversed in direction from blades 32 so that this straightening action willcause the gases, when they leave the thin or trailing edges 39 of blades I! to impinge upon the thick leading edges 40 of the second stage rotor vanes 33. These latter have their concavo-convex surfaces in the same relative position as blades 32, although at a different angle, if desired, the gases leaving their trailing edges 41 passing freely into the annular chamber l9 and eventually making their way through ports 23 to exhaust pipe 1.. man, u and n are secured within grooves 34- and 35, respectively, by an end plate 42 which is fastened to the trailing end portion of member 30 on rotor 25. Such an arrangement will be found to facilitate the assembly and maintenance of these blades, which should desirably be constructed of a chromium-molybdenum alloy which will resist temperatures upwardly of 1200 to 1800 F. Similarly blades ii and i8 of the stator and combustion chamber 21 should be made from an alloy having adequate heat resisting qualities.

In operation, combustion chamber 21 will re ceive a combustible charge through port 28 during that portion of the time that discharge ports 29 are sealed by the blank member 22 which extends clockwise between points 2i and 28. After this intake period is completed the charge in 21 is ignited, for example as by the means shown in my Patent No. 2,222,183 and. as soon as the burnin gases have begun to expand, they are ejected through discharge ports 22 against those stationary splitter vanes l8 which are immediately adjacent point 2 i after which the gases pass transversely in two directions around the toroidal passage formed between member to at the trailing end of the combustion chamber 21 and the wall to of the housing it, these expanding gases being directed first against movable blades 32, then reversed in direction by stationary blades l1 and finally directed against second stage blades 33.

The reaction of these gases emerging from ports 22 and impinging against blades 32 and 33 will serve to urge the rotor 25 to travel in a counterclockwise direction within housing ill to rotate its support shaft and generate power.

It will be appreciated that this invention is directed primarily to an improved vane arrangement and. construction for a rotating combustion gas turbine of the type of my previous Patent No. 2,222,183 and includes generally a plurality of radially outwardly extending vanes carried by a rotating combustion chamber adjacent the outlet of the latter, and a plurality of radially inwardly extending vanes in the toroidal combustion chamber housing, all of the vanes cooperating to form a tortuous passage for combustion gases discharged from the combustion chamber into the rotor housing to produce rotation of the combustion chamber within said housing. Although only one specific construction and mode of operation is here shown and described, it is understood that many changes and modifications could be made without departing from the essential features of the invention and all such modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims are embraced thereby.

I claim:

1. In a gas combustion turbine which includes a housing forming a toroidal passage and a combustion chamber rotatable throughout said pas- 2. A gas combustion turbine according to claim 1 in which those inwardly projecting vanes in said housing which are opposed to the outlet passage from said combustion chamber are provided with dihedral faces to divide and direct the combustion gases in opposite directions trensversely around the toroidal passage.

3. In a gas combustion turbine which includes a housing forming a toroidal passage and a combustion chamber concentrically mounted in said passage to be rotatable therethrough and provided with a gas outlet on its outer face, means comprising a plurality of spaced stationary vanes in said housing, a trailing member for said combustion chamber, a plurality of spaced movable vanes carried by said trailing member adjacent said gas outlet, said stationary vanes extending inwardly through the spaces between said mov-- able vanes. and said movable vanes extending outwardly through the spaces between said stationary vanes, all 01 said vanes cooperating to form a tortuous passage for combustion gases from said outlet port into said toroidal passage to produce rotation of said combustion chamber. 4. A gas combustion turbine according to claim 20 3 in which said trailing member is circular in cross-section and cooperates with said vanes to direct the flow oi gas around said trailing element and through the space defined by the inner suriace of said toroidal passage and said trailing element.

CHARLES P. ROCHEVILLE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fileof this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,291,273 Tyler Jan. 14, 1919 2,222,183 Rocheville Nov. 19, 1940 

